POW Service and Paybooks

1531365 Roy Henry John OSGOOD of 44 Battery - 101 LAA/ATK regiment - he was wounded and captured at St Valery on 12th June 1940, Gunner Jackson shown earlier in the thread was with the same Battery and captured at the same time

 

6020474 Clive Maurice of 1st Loyals taken POW at Anzio, thanks to Gary Tankard for confirming he was with C Company and also advised This company reached the hill outside of Battipaglia with the castle on before being overrun

R A Clayton from earlier in the thread was with the same Battalion (but B Coy) and captured the same day

 

846938 Kenneth MARTIN of 1st DCLI, he was taken POW 5/6/42 - the Battalion had just arrived at the front from Iraq and were sent into a counter attack SW of Tobruk due to a false belief that the attacking German Forces had suffered badly and were there for the taking when in fact they were pretty much unscathed and the DCLI were exhausted and poorly prepared and the Battalion was basically destroyed

 

WO392/21 with the usual provisos. Camp 53 Sforza Costa near Macerata.

 

909986 Ernest William SMITH who initially joined 118th Field Regiment RA but volunteered for the Commandos joining 7 Commando - who became 3rd Special Service Battalion then part of Layforce, he was captured with them on Crete covering the withdrawal 2/6/41

 

3651532 John SINGLETON of 5th RHA who was captured 29/5/40 - he was repatriated in 1943 at least in part due to having been a Stretcher Bearer in the Regiment, when he got back to the UK he transferred to the RAMC

 

6338947 Samuel Arthur WOOD of the 6th Queens Own Royal West Kents who was captured with the BEF

 

1648261 Samuel Wightman PARK who was 7/4th Maritime Light AA Regiment, he was detained in "unoccupied French territory (North Africa)" which I assume is Vichy North Africa in 1942 before being released in 1943 - I wonder if he may have been picked up by a Vichy ship after being on the Laconia or another ship that had been sunk. He later went to Airborne Light A/T batteries

 

870953 Kenneth GILLIES of 11/7 Coast Regiment RA, he managed to get away from Singapore after the surrender and after 2 weeks afloat made it to Padang in Sumatra but was captured when the Dutch forces surrendered

 

His liberation questionnaire is on the Cofepow website and it mentions his escape attempt and some of the men with him by the looks of things. Very unusual to have such detail, although it is unreadable in places. See attached.

 

15881 William McMillan (book has MacMillan but medal card, roll and POW card has Mc) he was with 10th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers but was then attached to 109 Light Trench Mortar Battery (which I believe was formed with men from the Battalions of the Brigade) - I'm not sure which he was with but both were involved on 1/7/16 with an officer of 109 LTMB earning a VC so its a fair assumption he was part of the days events. At some point he was taken POW, entries end 9/3/18 so assume he was captured just after that probably another Operation Michael capture

 

Cheers, I'd downloaded a copy, as you say good detail but also not the clearest scan - I thought the list of men was those he left Singapore with but I think it says died and has camp details so not sure if its him giving info on comrades deaths

 

It's a real shame the script is so faded. I think I've only seen one other form filled out to such an extent, but I guess most POWs did not try and escape. I wonder if the original at Kew would be more legible?

 

The escape refers to the escape from Singapore after the surrender but before becoming POWs. As they were from the same Regiment I think they were together at this time. What is certain is that, having been captured at Padang, they were all in the work party known unofficially as 'The British Sumatra Battalion' which was sent from Sumatra to work on the Thai-Burma Railway.
Gnr T Thomson died 14 Dec 43 at 55 Kilo Camp
Gnr H Sills died 5 Jan 44 at 114 Kilo Camp
Gnrs W M Murray and G Ross survived
After the railway was completed the Battalion was split and L/Bdr K Gillies went to a work party known as Kumi 51. This went to Saigon.
(Ref: The British Sumatra Battalion by A A Apthorp)
History

Tim

 

6206866 William James Chitty who was originally with the Middlesex and was with the BEF in France in 1939-40 - he then volunteered for the Airborne Forces and joined 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment serving with them in North Africa (where he was wounded 28/2/43) he went on to serve in Sicily and Italy before landing at Arnhem by which time he was with the Intelligence Section and attached to B Company at some point he was taken prisoner

 

T/207558 Percival Calvin Joseph GREIG, 211 Coy RASC (attached 2nd Armoured Division) taken POW Kalamata Greece 28/4/41

 

1058131 Joseph William Flanagan, 88th Field Regiment RA taken POW Singapore 15/2/42

 

1058131 Gnr J W Flanagan
Flanagan, Joseph William
Note: Date of birth varies 1903/1905.

Tim

 

2070832 Frederick LISTER 288 Field Company RE, taken POW Singapore 15/2/42

 

13012549 Aubrey Joseph ANDERSON, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps taken POW at Boulogne 25/5/40 and repatriated in 1943

Below is his book from earlier service in 1920-21 - the family believe he had been wounded in Ireland serving with the Black and Tans in 1918, but as they weren't formed til 1920 I think there may be some mix up, the above book notes a shrapnel wound to the shoulder so its possible he was wounded while serving in the East Yorks in Ireland, its guesswork at the moment but there does seem to be a story there somewhere - any thoughts welcome (I'm not to well up on researching that period) maybe something in newspaper archives